George Guido: Here’s hoping football returns to 4 classifications in ’20

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 1, 2019 | 9:51 PM

Happy New Year to all of our readers.

While I got a lot of great gifts Dec. 25, one arrived the week before Christmas.

That gift was courtesy of WPIAL executive director Tim O’ Malley at the Dec. 17 Board of Control meeting.

O’ Malley told the board and the media attending that going back to four classes in football is being considered.

The soonest a change could come, however, is 2020. The WPIAL and the PIAA is locked in for another year of six-classification football in the traditional, two-year enrollment cycle.

But O’ Malley cited what many can see every weekend: extensive travel and empty seats at football games. Granted, the weather last fall was atrocious. Of the 14 Fridays I covered football, all but four had inclement weather of some sort.

While nothing can be done about nasty weather, something could be done about the classifications.

But the most interesting aspect of a possible return to four classes was the word the suburban Philadelphia schools were willing to go back to four classes.

Schools in that area, generally PIAA District 1, were among those pushing to go to six classes in the first place. Administrators in that area cited the fact a number of schools in the lower tier of Class 4A that had in the neighborhood of 500 male students would be playing schools with three times the enrollment.

What else is surprising is the word the PIAA competition committee also is looking at the prospect of returning to four football classes.

But before you get your tickets to the resumption of the Valley-Highlands or North Allegheny-North Hills rivalry, O’Malley cautioned the move back to four classes would be considered only if a majority of WPIAL schools approve.

Low attendance also hurts the booster organizations. Fewer people at games means less revenue for concession stands, meager 50/50 drawings and less money to finance postseason awards banquets and purchasing leather letter jackets.

Yes, 2019 promises to be interesting on the high school sports front.

Here’s what else to look for in the coming year:

• Burrell doesn’t believe in triskaidekaphobia, the Greek word for fear of the number 13. The Bucs will try to make it 13 straight seasons as WPIAL team wrestling champions.

• Two dates to circle on basketball calendar: Jan. 18 and Feb. 8, when St. Joseph and Leechburg battle in section play.

Also, the Highlands-Knoch-Freeport basketball triumvirate promises to be great in the New Year. Local schools engaging in athletic events. What a concept!

• Can Leechburg softball make it a WPIAL-best 32 consecutive seasons in the playoffs?

• This will be the 100th anniversary of Apollo’s Owens Field. The venerable facility opened Oct. 4, 1919 when the original Apollo Area High School pounded first-year Leechburg, 47-0.

Also, Apollo-Ridge’s Week 9 game against Freedom will be the 500th in school history.

• Speaking of milestone games, Springdale’s first 2019 game will be the 900th in school history. The Dynamos are hoping to play Vincentian in a Week Zero game. But if Vincentian is re-admitted to the WPIAL football ranks, Springdale will have to decide to either find another Week Zero opponent for No. 900 or wait until Week 1 and play Imani Christian at Veterans Memorial Field.

• Can Highlands make another long basketball run? The Golden Rams will have to improve on their 59 percent team free- throw shooting.

• Can Knoch girls volleyball become the first school to win three straight WPIAL Class AAA titles since Baldwin of 1990-92?

• Will any local school see better football success in 2019? After all, 2018 was the first time no Alle-Kiski Valley school finished over .500 since 1909.

George Guido is a Valley News Dispatch scholastic sports correspondent. His column appears Wednesdays.